Railway Debt Servicing Gulps N246bn, NRC Revenue Tumbles

Railway Debt Servicing Gulps N246bn, NRC Revenue Tumbles

According to Nigeria’s external debt service payments reports by the Debt Management Office, the Federal Government spent $548.67 million (N246.11 billion using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of N448.55 to a dollar).

Between January and December 2016, railway debt servicing consumed $19.99 million, with the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project accounting for $11.37 million and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project accounting for $8.26 million.

By 2017, railway debt servicing had consumed $21.53 million, with the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project accounting for $12.14 million and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project accounting for $9.39 million.

The total amount spent on servicing railway debt increased in 2018, reaching $63.92 million between January and December of that year.

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The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) cost $50.81 million, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) cost $2.82 million, and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project cost $10.92 million.

In 2019, the federal government spent $74.25 million to service railway-related debts.

The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) consumed $49.91 million, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) consumed $12.68 million, and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project consumed $11.66 million.

The amount spent on serving railway debts kept rising the following year, as the debts cost Nigeria $121m in 2020.

The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $48.97m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $21.28m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $50.75m.

By 2021, the total amount spent on servicing railway debts had risen to $122.92m.

The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $47.96m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) took $24.08m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $50.88m.

For 2022, The PUNCH could only access debt data for January to September as only three-quarters debt reports have been released by the DMO as of the time of filing this report.

In the first quarter of 2022, a total of $61.73m was spent on servicing railway debts, which included $23.58m on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), $13.60m on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section), and $24.55m on the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.

In 2017, the Federal Government earned N1.71bn, which included both passenger and cargo train services.

The Federal Government earned N2.52bn in 2018, N2.84bn in 2019, N2.03bn in 2020, and N6.05bn in 2021 from train services.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Federal Government earned N2.21bn but this revenue crashed massively by 66.73 per cent to N734.47m in the second quarter of this year.

In 2022, security challenges threatened revenue from train services, especially the Abuja-Kaduna train services.

Last August, it was reported that the Nigeria Railway Corporation suspended the Lagos-Kano and Ajaokuta train services due to the fear of terrorist attacks.

This was after terrorists attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022, kidnapping 168 passengers and killing eight others.

The release of the victims had been in batches since then, with the last 23 released in October, 2022.